Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-07-13
YsLeTAs DISTINCTION.
4 Claims to be the Scene OF the First |
white Settlement.
Igv,acisl Correanondancol

| -
white Settlement.
| Especial Correspondence
| Ell PAso, Tex, July /.
While the polemic antiquarians Of Santa Fe,
| Y NJ and San Augustine, Fla. are wrangling
over rival claims to the first white settlement
in the United States, I would call attention to
the fact that the honor belongs to Ysleta, q
quaint, queer little town, nine miles from Ell
Paso. as the crow flies. Away back, when
certain dawn, in 1886, to be accurate, an ad-
venturous band Of Spaniards found their way
somehow up through the rock ribbed passes
and over the desolate mesas, and built q
mission church there. It was q fashion OF
these Spaniards, not gone out of date yet by
the way, to punctuate the record of their
misdeeds with churches, and they must have
been hardy fellows, for 1t seems that they
pressed the natives into service and built this
one good and strong. with stone walls ten
feet thick And so it stands, after all these
800 years, the only monument of the day. Their
glittering casques came winding up the valley,
and they took the land in the name Of God
and Of CASTLE.
The old church lifts itself nowadays above
a struggling adobe village Of some 2, 800 souls,
mainly Indians and Mexicans. The low
"jacals," or dugout houses, with mud roofs,
give it a fictitious height, but judge its par
apet to be not more than twenty feet above
the ground. It Is In a state Of good preser-
walton. The ten foot walls have worn down
to less than six, but they are firm. It makes
one feel how short life Is to think that the
slow erosion Of the elements planed of these
four feet Of granite rock, grain by grain. but
the tread Of countless worshipers has car
ried away the threshold altogether and left
nothing but ragged fragment at either side
to show that it once was there.
At one corner Of the edifioe is low, rectan-
gular tower, with open Sides There is some
thing distinctly Moorish in its suggestion, and
inside bell is still hung, and still rings for
service every night The sockets in which its
axle turns are worn into long grooves and
the tower itself seems on the point of tonn,inp
over; yet in the recent earthquake, that fairly
shook the Mexicans out Of their adobes, not a
handful OF rock fell from it. But it has seen
so many earthquakes in its time that It posi-
oily has private understanding with them.
At night time, at intervals Of a week or
two, this curious structure Is the background
for an extraordinary ceremony. At the
ringing OF the bell, just at deep dusk, the In
dans steal from their "jacals" and collect be-
fore the door. A fire is lighted in the omen
space and casts Pickering and spectral illu
mlnation over the Masonic walls and circle of
superstitious faces, and all the while the bell
is throbbing, slowly, like a dying pulse, up in
the old square tower. Suddenly some one
starts a chant. 1t is not in words. not in any
language: the Indians do not understand it
themselves; it is simply wild wall of sound.
inexpensive and yet full of suggestion-as
sad as the night wind. Gradually the crowd
catch the refrain. The listener is sensible of
curious effect; he feels as il he were being
mesmerized There is nothing human about
1t, and imperceptibly it swells and wells and
grows fierce and rapid, and before one is half
aware OF the transition it is an uncanny
pecan, echoing to the very hills. Meantime
the tolling has grown swift and tumultuous.
the fire, on which fresh brush is heaped.
leaps up in fantastic harmony, and a new
sound breaks out 1t is the rapid beating Of
native drum, and falls with startling effect
upon the ear. The drum itself is like the TOM
tom OF East India, sheepskin head stretched
over kettle shaped wicker body, and the
drummer sways to and fro with sharn ,as
ticulations as he brandshes his sticks Rv
this time the music has grown into a pande-
moniuIn, and yet a certain inexnlicohIa
rhythm impossible to describe in words is
through it.
The circle Of faces, stolid enough at first.
begins to break and waver. The features
are convulsed with excitement, and at last
with common motion, score of the natives
plunge into the open space and begin an
absolutely INDISPENSABLE dance. No yoodoo
orgie in the cypress swamps of Alabama ever
paralleled it. The dancers are in a sort Of
frenzy, and, still chanting the ear stabbing
and unearthy melody, whirl. lean and
writhe like dervishes of Alpiers A dovo,,
squaws join them. Their movements ara
still more curious, and consist simply of an
upward leap, from which they alight snuoreIv
on their heels, the body stiff and rigid. Il
jars ones very spine to even look at them
but they don't seem to mind it. The hands
while this is going on, are held cIencbed at
the sides, and their features work like those
of an epileptic. Indeed, it is no infreouent
thing for one Of them to fall, shriekinp and
foaming in fit. Those who do not nartici-
pate are in a state of frantic but Suppressed
excitement. Their eyes glitter: the chant
has become scream; they pant and tremble
and gasp.
When the eerie spectac,e l. o. ;.a Hath.